Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described herein are not prior art to the claims in the present application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
At present, mobile devices enable a user to input content for various purposes, such as to generate messages, to take notes for classes, or to create business records. The input content may include plain language text, punctuation, symbols (e.g., small images or animation icons), emoticons, or the combination thereof. To input a certain type of content, a user may have to switch from a current input protocol to a suitable input protocol depending on the recipient or the type of content. For example, after a user prepares a message for a Chinese-speaking person on-line and before preparing a message to a Japanese-speaking person, the user may have to switch from a Chinese language generating protocol to a Japanese language generating protocol, especially if the next person is Japanese-speaking only. In addition, in order to make the input content compact or to add some emotional characteristics, a user may have to switch input protocols several times to input special symbols or emoticons. Frequent input protocol switching can sometimes be stressful and can cause inconveniences when using a mobile device, such as a portable computer, smart phone, a tablet, or the like.